Radio direction finder



May 8, 1951 Filed March 2, 1939 R. A. GORDON RADIO DIRECTION FINDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 -9 ANGLE 0; MM mo/vr RaymondA Gordon,

Patented May 8, 1951 v UNIT so sr ES ATEN r rice RADIO DIRECTION FIN-DER,

Raymond 'A. Gordon, HyattsviHefiMdi Application March: 2, 1939; Serial N 01259381- 12 Claims. (Cl. 343--'I1 3')' ("Granted under the-act of March -3,-- 1 883 as amended Apt-i1 30 1928 j {i70 ot G. 7'57") This invention relates to means for determine patented September 21, I937} wherein r -ha-ve ing the direction from which a received-"radio shown and described radio receivingthsignal is' coming and more particularly to such gether' withthenecess'ary power supply; *wvholly means employing collectors of a'iiiodified'Adcock enclosed Within the collecto'r systern.

ty fi and contemplates the use of highfrequency 5 It is wellknown-thatdifiieultyin obtaining radio waves for direction finding'purpo's'es'; accurate bearings with radio directionfinders is Among the several objects of this invention eXperienceddueto"the factthatthesignalwave isirequently not vertically "polarized andcense To provide means for determiriingwith a high quently it is impossible 'to determine to-a high degree of accuracy the direction from which" degree of accuracy when a" signal minimum" radio signals are being received; obtained; My "present invention elir'ni-n'aites the Toprovide radio direction finding means that uncertainty due to this fa'ctor.

will eliminate errors due to changes in the energy The particular type ofr'eceiver and power'sure' vectors of a radio signaI' resulting from shifts plyisiniinaterial' 'solongasit'is"adapted"tothe ill-polarization; V reception of the frequencies to be"worked"and To provide meansfor ascertaining directly and I'have therefore notshown' any details thereof positively the azimuth and elevational angles of but have illustrated"a'housirig'liwithinwhich the the path ofaradio signal; 7 receiver and .power supply are both enclosed;

To provide a device whereby t dis'tancepf Housing "5 'is supported'at any suitab'ledistaince an aircraft from the receiving station maybe above the ground on any desired kind or-base;

deter e p receiving nformation as 'to his which is here illustrated as a tripod -6. Theh'o-ils altitude from the pilot of such craft. v ing 5 is mounted on 'tripod "6' to" berotatable'in The manner in w h he fOregoing nd Othel" azimuth and has fixed to it an index '1 moving obj s, that Will c apparent i fl overascal e Q-graduated'in degrees ofarc whereby skilled in this art, are achieved is set forth in h azimuthangle m b t n d the following description which should be read Extending horizontally fr ite id' f in connection with the accomp nyi g drawin theehousing-e are holi'ow arms andii'ilgmounted wherein: I W H v coaxially with each other to be simultaneously Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a successfully and-equally t t w t r, common H i. Operative embodiment oflmy invention; zontal axis. Qne collector of theAdcock system Fig- 2 isan end elevation of the apparatus has member H extending upwardly fmm'the Y F v l U extremity of arm Iii anda-member ll extending 3 1s a detail sh the 9P downwardly from the extremity of arm 9 and of h "cgnnectlons from the 9 mm i0 7 the second collector of thesystem has-aymember- :gcjggeri as they appear when viewed from above 2; extendiilgr downwandly from arm and Fig. 3A shows the collector connections'o'f'Figs. 2 m???" '1 g wn f j ilpwamly r i an 1 and 3 as they appear when viewed from the dd imb i99P Wm FP immbers carried attheend of each arm lymgsubsideinFig. 1. w p. v

Fig. 4 is a detail view of means that may he 40 stantla'nymacommon stralghtlmeused for obtaining absolute electricalbalanceh'ev A H h tween the collectors; collect -s eXtend-mg irom 'one laterali member to Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are side elevational views of a the-lather flf at their midpoint are direction finder embodying the invention, ill'u's h iwi i g r'e q i md 9 trating the orientation of the collectors during Q Y -f f f i in nfi f the various Steps f the method of Operation sirable electrical characteristics due-tethe-dlfih- Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are polar response patterns n A y u symmetrical arran ement-cf of the direction finder shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the components dthe antenna may caus each response curve relating to the figure directly fi lfi 'P 0f the'nuil obtained by above t; the" Ad'cock antenna system. Toehminatethese Fig. 11 is a graphical representation of the defects I have impar e o hew nnec in flpor make-up of an electro-magnetic Wave moving in n between' the members H a d P a manner to produce the response curves of Figs. twisvso that" plane! the 051i- 8, 9 and 10 in a direction finder-oriented as shown p t ons 1'3 and l t" becomes at i in F 5, 6 and 7 respectively, and angles toth'e" commonplane of the collectorsl;

Fig. 12 is a composite of the response curves 0-, as shown in'F w rmnthe connect showninFigs, 9 10, ing''portions' are viewed in a dire'otionpar'allei The present invention embodies some of the tothe' length of the memhers H; H and the ieatures shown in my Patent No. 2,093,432; 0 receiver is connedted'to the portions 'l"3and 'l l" In ttie usual z ldcock system "the portions of the at the points I where the portions [3 and M are disposed parallel to each other.

Fig. 3A shows, from a different viewpoint, the appearance of the part of the connecting portions i3 and M of the collectors which was illustrated in Fig. 3. In this view the connecting portions are seen from the front or back of the direction finder as in Fig. 1. At the left of the figure the lead I3 is above lead I4. At the center of the figure the two leads lie in the same horizontal plane and at the right lead [4 lies above lead l3. The central arrangement wherein the leads lie in a horizontal plane and extend in mutual parallelism greatly facilitates a symmetrical connection to the receiver.

..It is known that the downwardly extending member, as H, should be longer than the up wardly extending member ll of the same collector due to the greater capacitance to ground of the downwardly extending member. I have obtained Very accurate adjustment of the relative lengths of the downwardly extending members with respect to the upwardly extending members by the mechanism shown in detail in Fig. 4. This adjusting assembly is desirable and often helpful but is not essential 'to the successful operation of my invention. It is to be understood that the same assembly is associated with each of the downwardly extending members ll and 2 and is identical and therefore I have shown but one for the purpose of illustration and description.

The downwardly extending member II is, in

Fig. 4, made up of telescoping members whereof the outer is designated as He. and the inner is designated as Illa, the outer member la having fixed to it a toothed rack IS with which is meshed a pinion l'i carried on a shaft l8 to which is keyed a spur gear l9 and that is suitably mounted in a supporting hanger secured to a portion of the arm 9. Shaft 2| is rotatably supported in brackets 22 extending from arm 9 and carries at oneend a hand wheel 23 and at its other end a spur gear 24 meshed with spur gear I9. It is obvious that'manipulation of hand wheel 23 will result in moving the member a longitudinally on member I lb to change the effectivelength of the collector member as a whole and thereby make possible an extremely accurate adjustment of the length thereof so it shall be of the same electrical length as the member I I.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The receiver is conditioned for operation and the housing 5 together with arms, 9 and I0 is rotated in azimuth until the desired signal is received with a minimum value, then the arms 9. and I0 are rotated equallyabout their common horizontal axis until the minimum signal is very sharp and is usually zero. The tips of the collector members l, l2, etc. are then pointing away from the direction in which the received electromagnetic wave is approaching the antenna. When the collectors are in a position giving the sharpest possible minimum, then the collector members are lying in a plane which is parallel to the wave front of the received waves. eliminate any uncertainty as to the direction of the signal, the collectors ll, etc., are maintained in the vertical angle at Which the sharpest minimum signal was determined and the entire collector system is rotated 180 in azimuth, where it will be found that the lowest signal value obtainable is very broad, and in fact it frequently occurs that no evidence of a minimum is indicated, particularly when receiving from an airminima 180 apart.

4 craft which would give a high angle wave. It is then known that the direction of the signal source is the azimuth setting where the best minimum is obtained.

The foregoing method of operation, which forms a part of the invention, is illustrated in Figs. 5 to 12 and contrasted with the usual method of operation of an Adcock direction finder not constructed for the rotation of the collectors in vertical planes.

Consider a vertically polarized wave, approaching from the left as shown in Fig. 11. The front of the wave makes an angle 0 with respect to the surface of the earth, which is known as the wave front angle. This angle is seldom in the higher frequency waves due to reflection of the wave from the Kennedy-Heaviside layer.

In Fig. 5 is shown an Adcock direction finder with its collectors extending vertically. In such a position the direction finder would have, for a wave such as that illustrated in Fig. 11 a polar response curve such as that illustrated in Fig. 8. This is a figure-of-eight or cosine curve with It should be noted that these minima are not perfect but-that they are practically identical so that they afford no means of distinction between the actual bearing of the wave source and its reciprocal.

Fig. 9 shows one-half of a polar response pattern obtained with the antenna rotated as shown in Fig. 6 to make an angle with the horizontal which is equal to the angle 0. It will be noted that a well defined minimum is obtained.

In Fig. '7 the direction finder has been rotated in azimuth with the vertical setting of the antennas unchanged. The remainder of the polar response pattern for this vertical setting is shown in Fig. .10. It will be seen that the minimum obtained is much broader and shallower than that shown in Fig. 9 and is easily distinguishable therefrom. This is readily apparent from the complete response pattern shown in Fig. 12.

It has been repeatedly observed when homing aircraft that as the plane'approaches within approximately one-half mile of the direction finder, it is necessary to decrease the vertical angle of the collectors to maintain the bearing or even to pick up signal, which gives this device considerable value as an indicator of the close approach of an aircraft to the homingsite. -If the aircraft flies overhead, it is of course necessary that the collectors be rotated to a horizontal portion to maintain reception of signals, which indicates that the craft is ready to effect a landing.

It will be apparent that since the present invention makes it possible to determine the vertical angle of the path of a signal, if the data as to the altitude of an aircraft are received from the pilot it is readily possible to determine the distance of the craft from the apparatus.

I am aware that others have heretofore suggested the use of collectors mounted to be rotatable in azimuth, as in the patent to Leib et 2.1., 2,120,366, but so far as I am informed no one has heretofore taught the necessary step ofascertaining not only the azimuth angle, but the elevational angle as well, when using radio signals to determine direction.

For the purpose of defining terms used in the claims, the expression sharpest null response or its equivalent, means that the change in response per degree of rotation about the vertical axis of rotation of the antenna system in the a cs-1,594-

vi'cinity of the null is greatest. Thus 'as' seen in Figure 12 it is clear that the response curve is steeper in the vicinity of the minimum or null occurring at zero degrees than it is in the vicinity of the null or minimum occurring at 180 degrees. Thenull at zero degrees is therefore sharper than the null or minimum seen at 180 degrees. Also the null is sharper'at zero degrees in Figure 12 than the nulls shown in the Figure'8.

By the term polarization plane of the'an tenna is meant the common plane in which the collector elements lli2, l .l --l-2' are situated.

The invention herein described and claimed may be used and/or manufactured by or for the Government of the United StatesofiAmerica for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

I claim:

1. A radio direction finder, comprising two collectors each having an upwardly and a downwardly extending member spaced from each other, all said members being coplanar with the upwardly extending member of one collector lying in substantially the same straight line as the downwardly extending member of the other collector, the portions of said collectors extending between said upwardly and downwardly extending members lying parallel to each other in a plane at right angles to the plane of said members, means for supporting said collectors to rotate said upwardly and downwardly extending members in vertical planes, a housing wherein said means are rotatably supported, said housing containing a radio receiver and the power supply therefor, and means for supporting said housing at a distance above the ground and to be rotatable in azimuth.

2. A radio direction finder, comprising two collectors each having an upwardly and a downwardly extending member, all said members being coplanar with the upwardly extending member of one collector lying in substantially the same straight line as the downwardly extending member of the other collector, the portions of said collectors extending between said upwardly and downwardly extending members lying parallel to each other in a plane at right angles to the plane of said members, each said downwardly extending member consisting of relatively adjustable portions to change the length thereof, means for relatively moving the portions of said downwardly extending members including a rack on one portion, a pinion meshed with said rack, and means to rotate said pinion, and means supporting said collectors spaced from the ground for rotation about both horizontal and Vertical axes.

3. A radio direction finder, comprising two collectors each having an upwardly and a downwardly extending member, all said members being coplanar with the upwardly extending member of one collector lying in substantially the same straight line as the downwardly extending member of the other collector, the portions of said collectors extending between said upwardly and downwardly extending members lying parallel to each other in a plane at right angles to the plane of said members, each said downwardly extending member consisting of relatively adjustable portions to change the length thereof, means for relatively moving the portions of said downwardly extending members including a rack on one portion, a pinion meshed with said rack, and means to rotate said pinion.

41 A radio-direction finder, comprisinga nousing, 'a radio receiver and power supply "therein, coaxial hollow 'armsextending horizontally to the sides of said housing, said arms beingmounted in said housing for simultaneous and equal rotation about the common-axis,- a pair-of Adcock collectors each having a, member extend ing upwardly from an end of one of said arms and a member extending-downwardly from the end of the other said arm, all said members lying in a common plane and the members at the-end of the same arm lying in substantially the same straight line, the connecting portions between the col-lectormembers being twisted in'a mannersuch that the plane of the connecting portionsis positioned at right angles to the common plane of the collector members, and an insulatingsupport on which said housing is mount-ed for'rotation in azimuth.

5; A method of radio direction finding, comprising the steps of determining the azimuth and elevation angles at which a signal minimum is obtained, and then determining the signal strength at the same-elevational angle at of azimuth from the direction of the firstde'tcrmination.

6. A method of radio direction finding, comprising the steps of determining the azimuth angle at which a minimum signal is obtained, maintaining said azimuth angle and determining the angle of elevation at which the signal is further reduced to a new lower minimum, and then maintaining said elevational angle and determining the signal strength at 180 of azimuth from the direction of the first determination.

'7. A method of utilizing an antenna array having 180 ambiguity for radio direction finding, comprising the steps of determining the azimuth angle at which a minimum signal is obtained and maintaining said azimuth angle while determining the angle of elevation at which said minimum signal is reduced to its lowest value.

8. A radio direction finder, comprising two collectors each having an upwardly and a downwardly extending member spaced from each other, all said members being coplanar with the upwardly extending member of one collector lying in substantially the same straight line as the downwardly extending member of the other collector, the portions of said collectors extending between said upwardly and downwardly extending members lying parallel to each other in a plane at right angles to the plane of said members, means for supporting said ,collectors to rotate said upwardly and downwardly extending members in vertical planes, means coupled to said collectors for rotating same about a vertical axis.

9. In a direction finding system a method of utilizing a plane polarized antenna rotatable about a given axis of rotation, and having 180 directional ambiguity in its response pattern, for determining the direction of approach of an electromagnetic wave having a linear electric field vector which makes an angle with said axis of rotation which comprises the steps of adjusting the antenna so that the polarization plane thereof makes an angle relative to said axis of rotation, rotating the antenna about said given axis of rotation until it is in a position giving the sharpest null response.

10. In a direction finding system, a method of utilizing an antenna rotatable about a given axis of rotation and including a series of parallel, oblong, conducting elements properly spaced and interconnected so as to give a directional response pattern having an 180 ambiguity for determining the direction of approach of an electromagnetic wave having a linear electric field vector which makes an angle with said axis of rotation which comprises the steps of adjusting said antenna so that the long dimension of said antenna conducting elements make an angle with respect to said axis of rotation, rotating said antenna until it is in a position giving the sharpest null response.

11. A method of determining the direction from which an electromagnetic wave is approaching a bi-directional antenna having a symmetrical response pattern when it is rotated about an axis coinciding with the plane of polarization thereof comprising the step of rotating said antenna about an axis which makes an angle both with the wave front of the electromagnetic wave and with the polarization plane of the antenna into a position giving the sharpest null response, determining the azimuth angle of a line normal to the polarization plane of the antenna.

12. A method of determining the direction from which an electromagnetic wave is approaching a bi-directional antenna located at the surface of REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,718,431 Pickard June 25, 1929 1,911,234 Meyer May 30, 1933 2,120,366 Leibet a1 June 14, 1938 2,266,918 Sullinger et a1 Dec. 23, 1941 2,269,437

Clemener Jan. 13, 1942 

